A Challenge
by x Bella Jade x
Summary: Hotaru makes a wish... Heard many dimensions away from the planet of Saturn... and it's granted. Find out what happens to Hotaru as she comes face to face with Trunks, Vegeta and the other saiyans! Hotaru Trunks
1. The challenge

"So what are we doing today? I suppose it's just another day of training... 'You have to train to be the perfect scout.' Isn't that what mother always says? Why does she say that? Nobody could ever harm me... It's physically impossible!" the girl said. Everyone thought she was very arrogant, although that wasn't the case. She was a very kind girl, and really liked to fight. She wasn't arrogant at all, she spoke the truth. Every time she fought, she had gotten away unscathed or dead. She was Sailor Saturn, Senshi of Death and Rebirth.... And permanently immortal. Bored to no extent, she went inside. 

"If anybody can hear me, no matter where you are, I need a challenge!!! Something I really do need to train at to understand and become skilled at! Please, somebody, I hope you can hear this!" Hotaru silently wished. Little did she know that her wish was actually heard in another dimension, apart from her planet Saturn. As Hotaru decided earlier, she would fall asleep. Hopefully she'd dream up a challenge. Not many aside from Usagi know, but Hotaru is a lucid dreamer. It's very interesting. 

*a/n: lucid dreaming is where you control your own dreams*

"Hey, where are you going? You have to train with us Hotaru-hime!" Makoto said. Oblivious to the protests she was receiving, she used some simple magic. As she fell asleep, Hotaru saw a young man with purple hair standing over her. Not knowing- or caring- who he was, she didn't reverse the spell. Quickly reaching a deep sleep, Hotaru could only dream of the boy with the purple hair, and no matter how lucid she was, she couldn't change the course of the dream. 

When Hotaru woke up, she wasn't in her bed. She was in a boy's bed, with the purple haired boy watching over her. There was also a short, black haired man with him. "So, you want a challenge, onna?" he asked. 

Shooting up out of the bed, Hotaru put up her guard. "Who are you?" she asked cautiously. 

"Your new trainer." the one with the black hair replied. 


	2. Acceptance with grace

"What is your name?" Hotaru asked. She surely didn't know whether or not to trust these people, but she didn't think she could. At least not the man with the black hair. 

"I am Vegeta. And you, are Hotaru. This here," Vegeta said, gesturing to the boy with the purple hair, "Is Trunks. I take it you want a challenge? That's what you said... Well, you can train like a saiyan..." 

//She definitely has the build, and she has the spirit, as well as the experience. I don't think it would be hard to train her. Trunks can help me, and if he's smart, maybe he'll finally fall in love. He needs someone... // Vegeta thought. Although it was not to his knowledge, Hotaru heard everything, just as he and Trunks had heard her silent plea. Laughing to herself, Hotaru kept it a secret that she was equal to them. 

// What am I going to do?! I don't want to train with a really hott girl around my age, who's probably better than me at what I do.... Damn, I thought this was gonna be a good start for me! // Obviously startled at her power level when she was powered down, Trunks tensed up around her. "So, do you think you'll be training like us?" he asked her. "Like a saiyan?" Hotaru asked. Vegeta nodded, and Hotaru smiled. "I accept your challenge. And I will rise to your standards." Hotaru declared with confidence. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sorry so short, but i have alot to do, and this is, after all, only her acceptance....


	3. I can pretend to be your girlfriend

Hotaru was given the rest of the day before her training was to begin. She spent the entire day using a Saturnian technique she was taught around 300 years ago. She began to gather energy. She did so at a rapid rate, and before long, her senses bristled, telling her that someone was nearby her, watching her. 'That boy...' she thought. She broke her focus, and instantly appeared within inches of the boy. "Is there something I can help you with?" she said coldly.  
  
"I was only told to tell you dinner was ready." Trunks replied just as coldly as she had confronted him. He was in a terrible mood. Some girl from school was downstairs meeting his parents. As if they were going to actually go out. He could tell from the look on his father's face that he was already thoroughly annoyed. He smirked to himself going down the stairs, when that girl caught up with him.  
  
"I didn't mean to be so rude, it's just that I hate being interrupted while I focus. I'm usually not so cold to others unless they are my enemies." she stated. Her voice was no longer cold, but it remained empty rather than friendly, as if there were something missing from her that he had yet to understand.  
  
"Well, I am not so cold either, it's just that the whore in my living room trying to convince my parents that she's the perfect woman for me is really ticking me off." Trunks said, rather off-handedly.  
  
"May I have some fun with her? Just briefly?" Hotaru asked, a sudden gleam in her eye.  
  
"What kind of fun?" Trunks asked, amusement written all over his face.  
  
"Mental anguish?" Hotaru said innocently. Trunks laughed.  
  
"She's too weak, it'd kill her." Trunks just said, still laughing.  
  
"Well then you have to agree to this less fun idea." she said, suddenly serious.  
  
"What is it?" he asked her.  
  
"I'll pretend to be your girlfriend." she said. Her face was extremely solemn and unbroken. Trunks stopped and nearly fell the rest of the way down the stairs.  
  
"Do you think that'll work?" he asked her.  
  
"Of course it will. Who could resist this?" Hotaru said sticking her tongue out playfully. Trunks smiled.  
  
"Alright... We should change and 'go to a movie'... Okay?" he asked.  
  
"Why don't we really go to a movie?" she asked.  
  
"Alright. We should still change." Trunks said, gesturing to his fighting gi and her fukuu.  
  
"Deal." Hotaru made her way up to the room she was in, and put on street clothes. She didn't really have anywith her, but changing her clothes was obviously the same across dimentions. With a snap of her fingers while standing in front of the full length mirror, Hotaru had changed into a very nice street outfit. Saturnians had good taste, and it came in handy. She was wearing black hip hugging jeans that flared at the bottom, with a tight, cap-sleeved black shirt. Her black hair was the usual style, and she wore a black ribbon for a choker. She had on earrings that fell in swirls containing a pearl. Her black boots topped the outfit off.  
  
In the other room across the hall, Trunks must've had the same thought train. His outfit went nicely with his long lavender hair. He kept it in its ponytail. He wore a black muscle shirt, and black, baggy pants. His black Capsule Corp. boots did nicely with his outfit as well. He walked out of his room at the same time as Hotaru walked out of hers.  
  
"Nice outfit. It shows your muscles." Hotaru said smiling.  
  
"You look hott." was all Trunks could say. "Oh, and arigatou." he said, smiling as well. Hotaru turned her head, for fear of him seeing her blush.  
  
Heading down the stairs, the annoying girl's voice became louder. Trunks and Hotaru entered the room where his parents were, and Trunks spoke first.  
  
"Dad, we need money... We're going to the movies." he said.  
  
"You and who?" Vegeta said arching his eyebrows.  
  
"Me and my new girlfriend. Now fork the yen." Trunks growled. Vegeta caught on.  
  
"Oh, well, in that case, here." he said, handing them a good amount of yen. Trunks and Hotaru left, hand in hand, while the tramp sitting across from his parents began to cry.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Do you think we shocked her too much?" Trunks asked, smirking.  
  
"That tramp? No." Hotaru laughed. Trunks just noticed this, but her laugh was soft and melodic.  
  
"Hah, no, she got what she deserved. I meant my mother. And my father, I guess as well." Trunks said. His smirk was set firmly, but he let out a small laugh as well.  
  
"Oh, that blue-haired woman was your mother?" Hotaru said laughing. "You should have heard her thoughts. She was wondering if I had appeared out of thin air. Apparently, your father hasn't told her about me yet." she smiled. But her smile quickly faded, as she realized that she just revealed she could read minds.  
  
"You can read minds?" he asked her.  
  
"Um.. yes." she said guiltily. 'Shimatte. I hope he doesn't hate me. But come to think of it, I have never been able to read his mind. I wonder why?' Hotaru thought.  
  
"I can too... but, um, I tried really hard... Well, needless to say, I couldn't read yours." he replied, shocking her.  
  
"I couldn't read yours either. It surprised me. I'm sorry. I should've told you. But, I wonder why I can't read your thoughts, and you can't read mine. It is highly unusual for this to happen. Even my mind blocks can be broken at a certain limit." Hotaru said.  
  
"Two tickets to 'Stuck on You' please?" Trunks asked the cashier. He paid and handed Hotaru her ticket. "I honestly don't know the answer to that. But I do know my dad may know the answer to that. He reads minds as well, but he could never read my mother's." Suddenly Trunks realized what he just said. "Not that we're..." he trailed off.  
  
"It's okay, I knew what you meant."Hotaru smiled. They handed their tickets to the man at the booth next to the theater they were to enter, and walked inside. Neither of them had realized that the girl from Trunks's house was following him until she sat next to him in the theater.  
  
"So she's your girlfriend, huh?" she asked Trunks. He frowned, whispered to Hotaru, and they moved to a different part of the theater. Sometime during the movie, somebody sat down behind them, but they didn't realize, because they were talking.  
  
"Hm.. yeah." Hotaru said. Trunks had just asked her if she liked anyone at home.  
  
"You like anyone here?" she asked.  
  
"No... who do you like?" Trunks asked. He kept the look of hurt off of his face. He hadn't thought anything of it until he asked her about it.  
  
"Well, my favorite scout was always Jupiter, she always knew how to keep everyone else in check." Hotaru informed him. Trunks refrained from laughing.  
  
"I meant guys." he said.  
  
"Oh, no." Hotaru said, blushing. "That girl is watching us again." Hotaru said, changing the subject.  
  
"I have a plan." Trunks said. He looked into Hotaru's eyes for a moment, and she whispered so softly that no ears short of a super saiyan could pick up.  
  
"I understand." she said. She was about to experience her first kiss and she knew it.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	4. It was just a kiss

-------- "I meant guys." he said.  
  
"Oh, no." Hotaru said, blushing. "That girl is watching us again." Hotaru said, changing the subject.  
  
"I have a plan." Trunks said. He looked into Hotaru's eyes for a moment, and she whispered so softly that no ears short of a super saiyan could pick up.  
  
"I understand." she said. She was about to experience her first kiss and she knew it.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The girl sitting behind the 'couple' gasped. Was she really seeing what she thought she was seeing?  
  
Trunks was really nervous, but it was too late to turn back now. He put his arms around Hotaru's waist, and she put her arms around his neck, and they kissed. Not just a short and sweet kiss like both of them had planned, but a long and passionate kiss that neither one of them could stop.  
  
'Oh my God... I'm kissing him... What am I doing?! But I can't pull away, it feels so good.' Hotaru thought. 'It feels... it feels right.'  
  
'Am I really kissing her? Why? Why don't I pull away? Why isn't she pulling away!? Does this feel as right to her as it does to me? Oh, God.... It feels so.... good.....' Trunks thought.  
  
As if they couldn't get enough of each other, Hotaru and Trunks both pulled each other closer. Suddenly, Hotaru opened her mouth slightly, and Trunks felt this. He felt his tongue slip into her mouth, and at the same time, he felt himself pull her to sit on his lap. She pressed herself up against him, and Trunks and Hotaru both knew that there was no room left between them. Suddenly, Trunks broke off to take a breath, and Hotaru laid her head on his shoulder. They were both breathing heavily. Hotaru looked up at Trunks as if she were going to say something to him but got lost in his eyes. Her arms had come back down to rest on her lap, she herself still sitting in Trunks's lap. Her arms moved again up to his shoulders, and his arms that had gone slack around her waist tightened yet again, and he kissed her, softly this time, and briefly. They just hugged after that.  
  
The movie let out not to long afterwards, and they headed home together. When they got home, they headed to their separate rooms. After about 10 minutes, Trunks knocked on Hotaru's door. She let him in, and offered him a seat next to herself.  
  
"About the movie..." Trunks started.  
  
"It's alright. I could've stopped you, but I didn't." Hotaru said simply.  
  
"Um... I know this isn't what you want to hear, but.... before I go to bed, since this is never going to happen again, could I kiss you one last time?" Trunks asked.  
  
Startled, Hotaru didn't know what to say. Trunks smiled sadly.  
  
"It's ok." he said. He got up, and began to walk toward the door, but Hotaru stopped him.  
  
"Wait." she said. He stopped, but didn't turn around. He wasn't even half way to the door. She got up, took his hand, and led him back to the bed. He sat across from her. "I never said no." she said softly.  
  
Trunks leaned down and pulled Hotaru to him. She put her arms around his neck for what she knew would be the last time, as he pressed her up against himself. Seconds later, Hotaru took the initiative, and pressed her lips up against his. He laid her down with him, each on a side, just enjoying the embrace and feel of the other's lips on theirs. Neither wanted the moment to end, but they both broke it off at the same time. Trunks smiled sadly.  
  
"Thanks." he said, and he left the room. Hotaru had so much to say, but she couldn't bring herself to utter a word.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hotaru had gone to bed after that. She fell into a deep sleep and had no dreams. When she got up, it was at sunrise. She went to put on her fukuu, but decided against the skirt, the bows, and extra gaps of fabric. She made it a plain body suit, and put on a pair of short shorts. Both black, for she didn't like the white fukuu. It stained to easily. She walked out into the balcony, and looked out onto the grounds which she'd be training on. When she looked out, she knew that she would see nothing, but the instant she looked down, she saw Trunks.  
  
Trunks went to bed the same time as Hotaru, and he, too, had a dreamless sleep. But when he woke up, he felt the need to go and spar with some air. He was sparring when he took a break. Just as suddenly, he realized that someone was looking at him. He looked up and saw Hotaru.  
  
Hotaru made eye contact with Trunks, and looked away within a split second. She couldn't look at him without a severe sense of longing. It wasn't lust, but it wasn't just longing for his conversational skills, either.  
  
Trunks watched her disappear from the balcony's edge, and thought it was for the best. He knew he wanted to be around her, but all she had done was help him, and she definitely did not like him like that. He knew this, but he hated to admit it to himself. 'How can I think this way, I barely know her. But.... It feels like I've known her forever.' he thought, smiling.  
  
Hotaru laid back down on her bed, and thought about everything for a few minutes. She decided to rid herself of all emotions for Trunks, because they just couldn't be together. She eventually had to go back to her time, and she had to fight to keep herself balanced. Later, Hotaru realized that she was supposed be training, and she dragged herself off of the bed she had sprawled out on. Walking calmly down the stairs, she spaced out and ran into Bulma. "Oh, I'm sorry." she said.  
  
"Would you like some breakfast?" Bulma asked her.  
  
"Sure I would. Um... Did Vegeta-sama... did he explain everything to you...?" Hotaru asked nervously.  
  
"Yes, he did. I thought that was very nice of you, going to the movies with Trunks to get that rotten... girl... off of his back for him. I'm glad he's made a good friend so shortly. He doesn't make many that will understand his secrets." Bulma said.  
  
"Secrets?" Hotaru asked.  
  
"Yes, secrets. You already know them." Bulma said, laughing.  
  
"I do?" Hotaru was now thoroughly confused.  
  
"Yes, you know. About him being the saiyan prince?" Bulma told her, laughing at her confused look as it turned into a face that plainly said, "Oh."  
  
"Forgive my ignorance... Where I'm from, we don't have to hide who we are. Especially if we're royalty. If I were to get treated less than my social class, my mother would be disgraced." Hotaru said frowning.  
  
"What social class are you?" Bulma asked curiously.  
  
"Oh. I'm the Princess of Saturn." she said, as if there were no significance to it.  
  
"Are you serious?" Bulma asked in disbelief.  
  
"I am dead serious. Do you disbelieve me? I can prove it to you." Hotaru smiled.  
  
"I believe you." Bulma said, returning her smile. Just then, Vegeta walked into the room.  
  
"Where's my breakfast, woman?" he grunted. Bulma scowled, and hit him over the head with the frying pan.  
  
"What was that for?!" he asked.  
  
"You know not to call me woman." she stated angrily.  
  
"I hope this doesn't affect our training for today..." Hotaru said, with a stunned look on her face.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"You start like this." Vegeta was telling her. He held out his hand and focused his energy. "Focus your energy into a ball in your hand. To let it loose, just break your focus." he explained. "Now try it."  
  
"Alright." Hotaru focused until there was a small ball of glowing black energy in her hand, and then she saw something that broke her focus. An image of Trunks's lopsided grin on the way to the theater. That floated through her mind just then, and her concentration broke, sending the ball of energy flying into a tree.  
  
"Good job. Nicely done. Why is your ball of energy black?" he asked her.  
  
"Because I'm from Saturn." she told him.  
  
"Well, that question hit, as your sensei, I have a right to know what broke your focus so that I may keep it away from your training as a distraction." he told her. A smiling Trunks again crossed her mind as she told him a lie.  
  
"I have the will power to break my own concentration." she informed him, frowning, a cold look in her eyes.  
  
"That's good. Now... on to the harder attacks." he told her. 


	5. You forgot your key!

Vegeta taught Hotaru several different attacks, including Goku's favorite attack, Kame Hame Ha. (sp??) She learned Solar Flare, Spirit Bomb, and several different energy attacks. He taught her the fusion dance, but no one was at her power level to fuse with other than Trunks, who was always conveniently not there. Luckily for Hotaru, she didn't have to deal with him much. Between her training, and his training and helping Gohan study for his finals, neither saw each other much except for meals.  
  
This continued for about a month, until Vegeta and Bulma decided to have them both home at 5:00 on their break day. They had left a note on the door. It read:  
  
Hotaru and Trunks--  
We've decided to go out for tonight, and will not be back until about 1 PM tomorrow. Goku has taken Gohan and Chi-chi to visit with Dende- sama, and they will not return for a few days. If you don't have the key to get in, then you'll have to rent a hotel room, because we can't remember where we left the spare. Sorry about that.  
  
-Mom and Dad  
  
Hotaru frowned. "You do have the key, right?" she asked him.  
  
"Um..." Trunks said checking his pockets, "No." he sweatdropped.  
  
"WHAT?!" she shouted.  
  
"I said I don't have the damn key, alright?" Trunks told her crossly. Then he realized it. They would be in a hotel room. Alone together.  
  
"I'm sorry..." she whispered.  
  
"It's not your fault, I'm the one who didn't bring my key." Trunks said soothingly.  
  
"Let's go. I want to get a room before check-in time is over." Hotaru said, frowning. Her look plainly said that they had better have a two-bed room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Can I help you?" the woman at the register asked.  
  
"Yes, we need a room, preferably two beds, non-smoking." Trunks told her.  
  
"Let me check." she told them. "Your room is available, it's number 313, floor 3. Here are two keys, and it will cost you 17,000 yen." she informed them.  
  
Trunks winced at the amount. He didn't come across yen too easily, and all because his mother forgot where she stuck the spare key, he lost mostly all of it. And they still had to eat. Trunks handed her the yen, and they went into the elevator. Getting off, Hotaru lagged behind. She entered the room, walked to the mirror, and snapped her fingers. She was no longer in her virtual training outfit, which was the body suit and the short shorts, but she was in the outfit she wore to the movies, except she was in tight, black shorts that were a tad longer than her training shorts.  
  
"I'm hungry, so I'm going to eat. Are you coming?" she asked. Trunks nodded, went into the bathroom, and emerged dressed in huge black shorts that were a little over half way to his ankles, and a black muscle shirt. his hair was in the usual pony tail, and he wore black sneakers.  
  
"Let's go." he told her. They set off, and ended up going to an American restaurant. Hotaru ordered a 12 ounce steak, with a baked potatoe, and a special kind of hot tea she called Rose Tea. Trunks didn't know what to order, so Hotaru ordered him a cheeseburger with fries and a coke.  
  
"Wow, dish Amewican food ish good!" Trunks said with a mouthful of food. Hotaru laughed lightly.  
  
"Yes, it is. I've been to America on missions, following my enemies to spy on them and destroy them. Obviously, I've eaten there, as well. And they serve American food on Saturn, as well as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Mexican." Hotaru explained. He nodded in awe. They finished up and the bill came. It was 5,000 yen. Hotaru paid, and they left. When they got back to the hotel, Trunks changed in the bathroom, while Hotaru snapped her fingers.  
  
Her normal pj's were rather revealing, a spaghetti-strapped midrift with extremely short shorts. So she opted for light material pants, and a button up short sleeve blouse, also light, but neither were see-through. She climbed into bed, and snapped her fingers. Her stuffed wolf was there. It's name was Buyo. It had gleaming silver fur, and fiery red eyes. It made her feel safe. She faced away from Trunks's bed, toward a wall. Trunks came out of the bathroom dressed in flannel pants and no shirt. Hotaru did not look at him, for fear that the sense of longing would come back. Trunks did not cast his gaze on her either, for he was thinking the same thing. He, too, climbed into bed, but did not have a stuffed animal. Nor did he have the ability to get one, though he wouldn't want one.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
sorry it's so short, but i'm being kicked off to go to bed. I'll update again soon. ^_^ 


	6. Floating

Hotaru had very much trouble getting to sleep. She did not wish to see Trunks, but she did glance at him when she passed his bed on her way to the balcony. She closed the door behind her, though not completely so she could get back in, and began to focus on feeling weightless. She did so at a very slow rate, but it paid off, because she was floating about 3 and 1/2 feet off the ground when she was finished focusing. She sat in the air for a while, contemplating what was going on. She meditated, keeping her emotions in check, and she floated there in the air. She felt the need to feel a soft breeze in the stifling air, and her wish was granted. But having not completely closed the door as she'd have liked, the breeze blew the curtains as well, distracting the groggy Trunks.  
  
Trunks looked up at the swaying curtains and saw a crack in the door. He went up to the door to close it, essentially locking it as well. But then he noticed the ki. It was Hotaru's. Outside. He looked out and saw her frail form floating peacefully. He smiled softly, left the door the way it was, and climbed into his own bed.  
  
Hotaru, being intune with nature all around her at the time, sensed Trunks awaken and get up to close the door. 'If he thinks I don't know he's there, he won't bother me.' Hotaru thought, never once breaking a thread of focus. Her iron self-control showing proudly. But it would soon be shattered. Once Trunks's ki was steady, and she was quite sure he'd fallen asleep, Hotaru let herself float gently back to the ground. She walked back into the room, slowly, but when she came even with Trunks's bed, she stopped. She turned, went up to his sleeping figure, and for a split-second, gently pressed her lips upon his. Then she was instantly in her own bed, not knowing why she had done that.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
that was even shorter, huh? Gomen, but I have to update my original. (Thanks Seishi, I appreciate the support. I'll keep going for yousa. ^_^ ) ~Krysta-chan 


	7. Queen Seki What?

Trunks woke up just before dawn, and rubbed the back of his neck. 'I must've slept on it wrong.' he thought. Then he remembered. 'What an odd dream. Do I really still like her? I could've sworn that I got over that.' he thought. "She did NOT kiss you, Trunks. Get over yourself." he said softly. Hotaru stirred. Trunks walked out onto the balcony, and Hotaru got out of bed.  
  
'Oh, no... He didn't feel it, did he? He just knows he dreamed it, that's all.' Hotaru thought. "Are you up?" Hotaru called out in the direction of the balcony, already knowing the answer.  
  
"Yes." Trunks said simply. He didn't want to talk to her just then. He was afraid he'd say something really stupid.  
  
"I'm going to change and head out for breakfast." Hotaru informed him. She stood in front of the full length in the room, and clicked her fingers. There she stood, in her normal garb. Her leggings with her black mini skirt, and her long sleeved black turtle neck.  
  
"Um.. I'll eat on my own." Trunks said in a sad voice.  
  
"Fine." Hotaru left the room by apparating, and Trunks ran into the room to see why she hadn't left. Only to realize the black sparkles in the air weren't for show.  
  
"Oh, man. What have I done now?" Trunks said to the floor. He sat down on the bed. Then he got up and put on yesterday's clothes. He walked slowly downstairs and into the lobby. Looking at the counter, Trunks thought he saw Hotaru checking out. But that wasn't it either. He was seeing Hotaru everywhere and he didn't like it. It made things harder.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Kids? We're home!" Bulma shouted.  
  
"Trunks didn't bring his key with him. You oughta know that. We're usually always here on the last day of school. I believe that he was counting on that when they got home. Oh well." Vegeta said, smirking.  
  
"I feel kind of bad, they had to stay at a hotel somewhere." Bulma said.  
  
"So?" Vegeta asked.  
  
"We're home early, why don't we leave and try to find them? And this time, we can just leave the main balcony door open. Heaven knows that you all can fly. Someone can fly me up if we get locked out. Oh, wait, I have they keys." Bulma said, sweatdropping.  
  
"Baka onna...." Vegeta whispered.  
  
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Bulma screeched, spinning on Vegeta with rage. She whipped a frying pan out of nowhere, and Vegeta honestly began to wonder if she made a capsule frying pan so that she could torture him.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"I'll have the refridgerated strawberry special, with a fruit salad on the side." (A/N: if you put sugar on strawberries, and refridgerate them for a few hours, you get this really awesome juice with sweet strawberries. But you have to cut them up. But oh are they heavenly with whipped cream.....)  
  
"And what fruits would you like in your salad?" the waitress asked Hotaru.  
  
"I'll have... strawberries, grapes, tangerines, pineapple, watermelon, mango, and starfruit." Hotaru said.  
  
"How did you know we had starfruit? We just got it in today, and there was no sign..." the waitress asked in surprise.  
  
"I always ask for starfruit, it's one of my favorites." Hotaru replied. (A/N: starfruit is a tropical fruit grown somewhere that's not here in Pennsylvania. ^^; but it's shaped like a star and tastes really good.)  
  
"Oh, well, you're in luck, we just started carrying them." the waitress told her smiling.  
  
'Well, at least she's just one to accept lies. When I saw that they had starfruit in the back storage room I thought I'd die. I didn't think my gift would let me see something so trivial. But I guess it's because small things get to me as much as big things do.' Hotaru thought, smiling to herself.  
  
"One refridgerated strawberry special with a custom fruit salad!" the waitress said, pinning the carbon copy of the order to the tac board for the chef.  
  
"Oh, good, an easy one." the chef muttered to himself. He pulled out the container of cut fruits and mixed the salad. Then he pulled out the special strawberries and gave the girl an extra large dish of them. 'That girl is the only one to order these all week! Usually it's popular.. Oh well, she can have some extra.' he thought. The order was done quickly, and brought back to Hotaru only moments later.  
  
"Oh, that was quick, thank you!" Hotaru said smiling.  
  
"Well, you gave us an easy job." the waitress said smiling.  
  
"Thank you." Hotaru said again.  
  
"Your welcome. Hope you like it!" the waitress smiled and walked away.  
  
'Mmmm this is good. The starfruit is fresh, too.' Hotaru said. Just then, Bulma and Vegeta walked into the restaraunt.  
  
"Hotaru?" Bulma asked, sitting at the table next to hers.  
  
"Oh, hi Vegeta-sensei, Bulma-san." Hotaru said, addressing their authority over her.  
  
"No need for that, we already know you're a polite young lady, Hotaru- hime." Bulma told her. Hotaru blushed. Bulma had insisted on calling her that ever since she arrived.  
  
"You're a princess?" the waitress asked.  
  
"Um, uh..." Hotaru began. 'How am I supposed to get out of this one?!' Hotaru thought frantically.  
  
"Of course she's a princess. We're her parents! She'll always be our princess!" Vegeta said. Bulma looked at him in surprise.  
  
"Oh. Sorry, I jumped to conclusions." the waitress said, and she took their orders.  
  
"DOMO ARIGATOU GOZAIMAZU VEGETA-SENSEI!!!" Hotaru exclaimed, but she whispered it, so the entire restaraunt didn't turn and stare.  
  
"Yes, good cover up honey. But... I didn't think you cared at all about our kids. At least not that much." Bulma said.  
  
"You're lucky you're a woman and I have some manners. And you're lucky that I don't have one of those capsule frying pans you have!" Vegeta growled. Bulma sweatdropped.  
  
"You've figured me out!" Bulma said, continuing to sweatdrop anime style.  
  
"Well, domo arigatou to you both anyways." Hotaru said. "But I must be going. I'll tell Trunks you're home. I trust that the main balcony door is unlocked?" Hotaru asked, a glint of mischief in her eyes.  
  
"H-hai it is!" Bulma said in surprise, but she smiled.  
  
"See you at home." Hotaru said smiling.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"MMM! Breakfast was good!" Trunks said aloud to the empty room. Just then, Hotaru materialized in front of him.  
  
"The house is open again." Hotaru said.  
  
"Geez, for a second, I thought I'd drempt that up. Then you pinched my ear and... ITAI!!! THAT HURTS!!!" Trunks shouted. Hotaru's eyebrow twitched in anger.  
  
"Let's GO!" she shouted at him. He shut up, and they went down to the lobby, to check out. Then, they walked around the corner to an empty corridor, and Hotaru apparated them out of there.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Why are we going through the balcony? Because that's what your mother left unlocked, baka. I saw her at the restaraunt." Hotaru said.  
  
"Oh." Trunks said. They both left for their bedrooms, when Trunks shouted out loud in surprise. "HOLY KAMI-SAMA!" Hotaru came running in. She suddenly sweatdropped and fell over anime style. Trunks's answering machine had 37 new messages on it. After listening to them all, Trunks and Hotaru were panicking.  
  
They all basically summed up: "Trunks? When did you get a girlfriend? And what were you two doing about a month ago at the movies?! Without telling anyone?!?!" a few of the people were his best friends, and then a lot of the other people were girls who liked him. Hotaru and Trunks just looked at each other.  
  
"It never happened." they both said silently, but at the same time. They nodded, and left.  
  
'If this gets back to my parents... I'm toast. Hotaru's dead... And both of our lives will be a living hell.' Trunks thought.  
  
'If this get's back to Vegeta-sensei, he may never want to train me again! And Bulma-san... she may hate me!' Hotaru thought, tears streaming down her face.  
  
Just then, the front door opened and Bulma and Vegeta walked in. "Hotaru, Trunks, we're home!" Bulma shouted.  
  
'Good, they don't seem to know anything.' Hotaru thought, and at the same time, Trunks crumpled to his bed with relief. He just as suddenly tensed up.  
  
"Trunks, can your mother and I have a word with you in private?" Vegeta called up, with a bit of a growl in his tone of voice.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Where could she be? Is it my fault? Was I a bad mother?" a woman asked.  
  
"There there, my lady, we're scouring the galaxy as I tell you this now. I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere. But in the meantime, It certainly is not your fault!" a girl said.  
  
"But Serenity-hime, where could Hotaru have possibly gone?" the woman asked 'Serenity-hime'.  
  
"I don't know, m'lady, I don't know." Serenity replied.  
  
"Queen Seki-sama!" A girl shouted. She looked to be a older than Serenity- hime, but not by much.  
  
"Yes, Setsuna-sama?" the queen asked.  
  
"I believe that Hotaru has gone into a different dimension." Setsuna said quietly.  
  
"What?" the queen said, her eyes growing wide.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"We heard some nasty stuff from people that go to school with you. But we wanted to clear it with you that we don't believe a word of what's being said. Your father and I both know that you and Hotaru have kept away from each other, we've been watching you. I just want you to know that we're behind you and that's all that counts." Bulma told Trunks, smiling.  
  
"Thanks mom. I knew I could count on you and dad to realize that there's nothing going on between us." Trunks said, relieved.  
  
"There isn't? What happened at the hotel?" Vegeta said, smirking. Bulma grew angry and next thing you know there was a frying pan in her hand.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"They realized that nothing's going on between us. Let's just hope-" Trunks was cut off by a sound of something cracking, like a bone, downstairs.  
  
"Let's just hope that they never find out about the one or two kisses that 'never happened' and won't happen again." Hotaru said, as much for herself as it was for Trunks. Another loud *crack* was heard, this time sounding like an energy ball hitting Bulma's favorite vase. Then there was an angry scream.  
  
"KIDS GO TO BED!" Bulma shouted.  
  
"But..." Trunks shouted down.  
  
"No buts, you have to get up at 3 tomorrow morning!" Vegeta shouted.  
  
"FINE!" Hotaru shouted down, smirking. Trunks looked at her, first in surprise, then in amusement as she went into her own room and into bed. He changed, and also went to bed. They would have a long day ahead of them tomorrow.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Sorry so short. ^^; I'll get it up to the wanted length eventually, that I will. ^_^ See you all later! ~Krysta-chan 


	8. Midoriko

*Beep beep beep beep beep bee-*  
  
Hotaru just shut her alarm clock off. Normally, she was up before it, but her dream had been a good one. She had thought herself over Trunks until she had this dream of him.  
  
*** Sitting down at the lake in the park she'd flown to, Hotaru gazed at the reflection of the stars in the water. She missed home a bit, but not too much to return to it just yet. She'd only been here for 2 months. Still, her feelings were plain and clear as the night sky. She hadn't been dancing in a while, so she decided to dance. Putting her hands over her heart until her midnight-purple-colored sparkles welled up, she closed her eyes and concentrated. She cupped the sparkles in her hands, then blew them into the air above her. They engulfed her, and she was soon dressed in a shimmering white fuukuu, with an attached skirt of the same color. Her senshi earrings were there, and beautiful as ever, and in place of her normal choker was a fine silver chain with a scripted 'H' for a charm.  
  
Walking over to the water's edge, Hotaru glided out onto the surface, making tiny ripples as she slightly displaced the water on the surface. She began to swirl around the lake's surface, carefree as the wind blowing it's soft breeze in harmony with her inaudible melody. She was free for once, and not tense as she normally was, not focused, just her light, beautiful self that no one ever saw. Every one was far to busy pushing her to train rather than trying to get to know her. But something made her slow down almost to a stop in the middle of the lake. A warm presence, kind, and genuine. She turned around, and saw Trunks gazing softly at her. She glided over to him, and extended her hand. How unlike him, though, he was dressed in black slacks that weren't as baggy as usual-- however they weren't skin tight either-- and a billowy white shirt. Taking her hand, they glided in a waltz across the lake's surface.  
  
In an unspoken agreement, Trunks and Hotaru pressed closer as they whirled and twirled under the stars, and the beautiful crescent moon shown its light down upon the couple. They slowed down, and Hotaru faced Trunks. Suddenly, but pleasantly, they locked lips in a deep kiss. Passionate, but not ravaging, Hotaru and Trunks didn't realize that they had cared so much until now. But as Trunks broke the kiss, and they began dancing again, he dunked her, and they both saw the sparkle-- the crackle of life the other's eyes held, and knew that they were in love.***  
  
Hotaru recalled it perfectly. She realized then that she had never gotten over Trunks-- instead she'd fallen in love with him. She didn't know when it had happened, but she knew it had. She was so at ease with this feeling that it scared her. In the other room, Trunks's alarm was still beeping loudly and monotonously, while he complained, sleepily begging for 10 more minutes. Hotaru smiled a small smile, and walked over to his room to shut off his alarm. Only then did she notice what she was wearing. Somehow, her pajamas had changed overnight. She was in the outfit from her dream. She looked at Trunks, and flung back the covers. He, too, was in the outfit from her dream. Then can it be, that Hotaru's dream was truly not a dream?  
  
'No, that's impossible. I must have triggered my magic while I was asleep.' Hotaru thought, returning to her room. She went to her walk-in closet and got two towels. Walking into the bathroom attached to her room, Hotaru saw her necklace in the mirror. Not her usual senshi choker, but her beautiful, fine silver chain with the scripted 'H' as the charm. Her eyes widened, and she took it off. She went back into her room, and put it in the jewelry safe. She went back into the bathroom, and set the towels on the towel rack. Turning on the warm water, Hotaru undressed, and stepped into the shower. She pondered what had happened, as she showered, and reached for her strawberry smelling shampoo. After washing and rinsing her hair, Hotaru stepped out of the shower and grabbed her towels. Wrapping one around herself, she wrung out her hair, and wrapped her hair in one as well. When she looked to the ground where she had thrown the outfit from her dream, it was gone. Suspisciously, Hotaru walked over to Trunks's room, where he was still sleeping, and looked at his pajamas again. Only boxers.  
  
Had she been imagining that she had awoken in that outfit? Hotaru reset Trunks's alarm to go off on the next minute, and went back to her room. She began to change when she heard his alarm go off. This time, Trunks got out of bed almost instantly after shutting off his alarm. Hotaru, now dressed, was working on drying her hair. Trunks went into the bathroom connected to his room, took a quick shower, and dressed just as quickly as Hotaru had. He knocked on her door.  
  
"Are you awake yet?" he called softly.  
  
"Yes, Trunks. I was the one who reset your alarm clock to wake you." Hotaru said, louder than he had called to her, but her voice carried a hint of amusement.  
  
"Does that mean I can enter?" Trunks asked.  
  
"Yeah, you can come in." Hotaru replied, laughing. Trunks opened the door, grinning.  
  
"Good morning. Do you know what we have to be up for?" Trunks asked curiously.  
  
"Yeah, I do... Why, don't you? Didn't your mother tell you?" Hotaru asked, confused.  
  
"She never does. She just says, 'wake up, you have to do this tomorrow.' Sound like her?" he asked, laughing.  
  
"Oh, I guess." Hotaru said. "Any way... Your mother said we were decorating for a formal banquet/ball. She also mentioned shopping for a dress for me?" Hotaru more so asked than told Trunks this information.  
  
"Oh, that's right! I nearly forgot that Capsule Corp. was having a dinner party!" Trunks said. Seeing the confused look on her face, he elaborated. "Every year on the anniversary of Cell's defeat, *and on several other occasions because my mother is a big freak* Capsule Corp. holds a huge banquet/ball where everyone is required an invitation, and you have to be all dressed up. Every year my mother tries to get me to escort someone." Trunks said.  
  
"Oh, I understand. If she hounds you about it, just look at her and say, 'I have better things to do than worry about who I'm going to walk around a dinner party with.' And then come complain to me." Hotaru said lightly, drying her hair with the towel. Trunks looked at her for a moment, and he could of sworn he saw emotion flash across her eyes.  
  
"I can't say that. This year, she's fixed me up with somebody to escort. Some girl from school. She's totally convinced that I need a girlfriend, and I refuse to tell her when I like somebody, because she'd make a huge deal about it." Trunks said, sighing.  
  
"Oh. Do you like anyone right now?" Hotaru asked him.  
  
"N-not really." Trunks replied uneasily. It was not easy for him to lie to her, especially trying to conceal that he liked her when she had point blank asked who he liked.  
  
"Oh, alright, no need to get huffy." Hotaru replied briskly. But before Trunks could defend himself, Bulma poked her head in, and asked, "Ready to go Hotaru?" Hotaru nodded, quickly running her brush through her chin length hair, grabbing a silver necklace from the jewelry box, and exiting her room all in one smooth motion, leaving Trunks hanging, then he finally left, as well.  
  
****  
  
"Did I interrupt something this morning?" Bulma asked Hotaru in the car.  
  
"No, why?" Hotaru lied.  
  
"Well, you two looked like you were having a serious and tense conversation. Apparently not?" Bulma asked, rather suspiciously.  
  
"No, all you interrupted was a question about where I came from." Hotaru said, her tone light and dangerous. Bulma wasn't taking the hint the way she meant it, but she did be quiet. Hotaru focused her energy, and softly whispered, "Laptop!" Bulma looked over at her oddly.  
  
"What's that for?" she asked Hotaru.  
  
"This is my laptop. I can get it anywhere, even through a dimensional wormhole. I have to update my online journal, so that my mother knows I'm safe. Don't worry, she won't come wreak havoc over here, I'm not even mentioning that I'm in another dimension. Although my mother's advisor, Setsuna-san, may have figured that out... In my dimension she guards over time, as well as advises my mother. But they still need to know that I'm safe." Hotaru said. The black laptop was about the size of a CD jewelcase, and an emblazened purple symbol-- the one for Saturn-- adorned the top.  
  
Hotaru booted up the computer, and the familiar hum, no matter how soft, comforted her. She began to type. Not anything to the effect of what she had told Bulma, but she wrote in it her dream. She coded it, and set it as a private entry so the public couldn't view it. She then posted another, rather harmless entry that gave no clue of her whereabouts, merely that she was safe and happy. And then Hotaru, seeing Bulma begin to peek at her laptop, placed it on public preview so that her dream of herself and Trunks could not be read, and she showed it to Bulma at the next traffic light.  
  
"Do you mind if we pick up Trunks's escort on the way back from the dress store?" Bulma asked.  
  
"No, not at all." Hotaru replied, her voice lighter than a feather. Her contempt for this morning was growing stronger and stronger with each passing second. Bulma parked relatively close to the store despite the crowded parking lot. The store was in the mall, so it was hard to park close, even at 4:00 in the morning. But they entered the mall, and not too long after, entered the dress store as well.  
  
"Look around for what you like, and if you can't find anything you like, we'll look somewhere else. There are plenty of dress stores here." Bulma said cheerfully. Hotaru nodded, and began looking around. A black dress immediately caught her eye, however, at the very back of the store. She jetted off toward it, and Bulma followed surprisingly close behind.  
  
The dress Hotaru had been looking at was stunning, and a great price, too. A halter top dress, it was shimmering and black. The ribbon lining that would go around the neck was soft as silk, and the dress cut off diagonally to one side at the bottom. Hotaru examined it, and decided that she was fond of it. She gestured to Bulma that she was going to try it on. She took it with her into the changing room, and changed into it with little difficulty. The only issue had been tying it, which proved easy enough in itself. When Hotaru came out, there were more girls looking in the store, the male salesman, and Bulma. Everyone looked at her when the changning room door slammed. Hotaru looked up to see several people gaping at her in awe.  
  
"What, is there something on my face?" she asked lightly. Despite the fact that she knew that was not the reason, she felt she needed to hear the praise right then.  
  
"Y-you in that dress... It's beautiful!" Bulma exclaimed softly.  
  
"Exquisite! Exquisite! It's perfect on you! Not a one who tried it on before was worthy of its beauty... but your eyes accentuate the dress. I'll even give you a discount on it!" The salesman spoke, excited.  
  
"Uh.. I'll take it, I guess..." Hotaru replied. She went back to change, and came out with the dress slung carefully over her left arm. The price tag read 1000 yen. The man looked at her.  
  
"I'll give it to you for 500 yen." he said determinedly.  
  
"That sounds fine to me." Hotaru replied. Bulma paid for the dress, however, despite Hotaru's protests.  
  
Back in the car, Hotaru thanked Bulma profusely while blushing. Bulma just brushed it off, smiling. "Now, off to Midoriko's house." Bulma said, still cheery. Hotaru felt her gloom set in again, as well as her growing contempt for this day start in again. Bulma phoned Midoriko to have her know that she was about 5 minutes from her house.  
  
When they reached it, Bulma beeped once, and Midoriko came running out with a bookbag and a garment bag. She got into the back of the car, and immediately spoke.  
  
"Thank you for the ride Bulma-san." Midoriko's voice rang out, cheery as Bulma's. Hotaru scowled mentally, but left her face blank physically. They finally reached home, and Hotaru sought refuge in her room, and hung her dress up. Since it was a warm day so far, Hotaru chose to sit out on her balcony. Tears streamed down her cheeks, despite her willing them not to. Hotaru frowned, trying to dry them, but it wasn't working. Just then, her door opened, revealing Trunks.  
  
"Hotaru, can we talk?" Trunks asked. Rather unwittingly, Hotaru faced him, showing him her tear-streaked face. "Oh, my are you alright?!" Trunks asked, suddenly concerned. He ran out onto the balcony, and shut the door behind them. Sitting down and pulling Hotaru close to himself, he cradled her in his arms.  
  
"I don't have any idea of what came over me." Hotaru said, drying her tears. She certainly didn't want Trunks to see them, and she definitely didn't want him to tell anybody. But she was getting tired, and it was really hard to control all of your emotions when you felt like going to sleep.  
  
"Are you sure? Because you know I'm here if you need me." Trunks told her. She knew why she was crying, somewhere deep down inside, he knew too. But he didn't realize. Trunks just held her there, until she fell back asleep. He carried her over to the bed, and laid her down. He closed the curtains around the bed, but left them open on the side with the balcony doors and the armchair. He sat in the armchair, watching her for a while, then he fell into a sound sleep just like her.  
  
There was a soft knock on the door, and it opened.  
  
"Hotaru-san? Bulma sent me, are you in here?" Midoriko called. She was dressed in her street clothes from this morning, and she had some powder with her, in a satchel tied to her belt. A very minimal amount, but enough to do the trick. It wasn't for Hotaru though, she'd have to slip it to Trunks. It might prove to be difficult.  
  
It was only 6 AM, but when Hotaru didn't answer, Midoriko walked around the bed. There, she saw Trunks in an armchair, fast asleep. Midoriko laughed silently to herself, and said softly, ''This is going to be much easier than I anticipated.'' she opened the satchel, and dumped the powder into her hand. There was barely any there, and it looked like salt or sugar. She blew it at him generally at eye level. It reached his eyes, and it must have tickled his nose a little, because he shifted and kind of snorted. Midoriko looked over to her right, rather on the spur of the moment, and noticed Hotaru, also fast asleep. 'He was watching her.' Midoriko thought, glaring at the girl. 'Don't worry, soon, he won't care about you, Hotaru-baka. He'll only have eyes for me.' Midoriko thought.  
  
****  
  
"Vegeta, maybe the streamers should go there?" Bulma asked him, pointing to a spot on the ceiling.  
  
"How about we just randomly place them on the ceiling in different colors of the rainbow?" Vegeta asked in an extremely agitated voice. Bulma had been questioning every little decoration idea she had since 5 this morning.  
  
"That's a good idea, Vegeta! I wonder why I didn't see that before. Now, onto the table arrangements." Bulma said authoritatively. Vegeta just shook his head. If it were his decision, he'd forfeit his ability to fly to give to Bulma for days like this. She was really getting on his nerves. Not to mention he had to do all the decorating she couldn't reach. Which turned out to be most of it.  
  
"Hey, Bulma?" Vegeta called down from where he'd started pinning the streamers.  
  
"Yes honey?" she called up innocently. She had been watching him rather than starting the next decoration project.  
  
"Didn't you and your father make that hoverboard capsule? Can't you get it and help?" Vegeta grunted, floating down. Bulma was holding a capsule. She pressed in the top button, like she always did, and Vegeta started running.  
  
****  
  
Midoriko left, closed the door softly, then knocked loudly. Inside, Hotaru and Trunks stirred. Trunks woke first, and he looked at Hotaru. She woke, and looked at Trunks.  
  
"Just a second!" Hotaru called.  
  
"Mornin'." Trunks said, his voice was still rather groggy.  
  
"Were you watching me sleep?" Hotaru asked.  
  
"Well, to a point... Then I fell asleep, too." Trunks replied sheepishly. Hotaru got up an bonked him on the head playfully. Trunks started tickling her and she burst out laughing, and fell on the bed, trying to get him to stop tickling her.  
  
"No, stop! That TICKLES!" Hotaru laughed, and Trunks finally stopped. So Hotaru got even.  
  
"HEY!" Trunks shouted. She was tickling him, too. She stopped, and they fell back on the bed laughing. Trunks looked at Hotaru and thought, 'This is a good change. I didn't like seeing her cry.' and Hotaru smiled at him.  
  
"HELLO?!" Midoriko shouted from behind the door.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Hotaru called. She got up, as did Trunks, and opened the door.  
  
"Bulma wants you to help decorating." Midoriko said.  
  
"Me, too?" Trunks asked, coming into view. "M-Midoriko... What are you doing here?" Trunks was startled. 'What a perfect way to ruin things,' he thought, 'with bringing the one other girl I like here. But then how will I be able to spend any time with Hotaru? And what if I fall back in love with Midoriko? This sucks.'  
  
"Yeah, you too. Your mom and Hotaru here picked me up at my house." Midoriko replied cheerfully. 'And by the end of the night, you won't care, because we'll be kissing.' she thought.  
  
"Oh, well, okay." Trunks said, and he and Hotaru followed Midoriko down to the ball room of Capsule Corp.  
  
Vegeta and Bulma saw the door open, and Bulma pressed the little red button on the frying pan's handle, changing it back into a capsule and pocketing it. She busied herself with fixing the table decorations, while Vegeta stood next to her, crossing his arms. There were several bumps on his head, which Hotaru and Trunks noticed right away.  
  
"Um, Vegeta-chan?" Vegeta looked up at Hotaru and actually smiled sheepishly.  
  
"It was her fault." his brief smile contorted into a look of pure rage directed at his wife who picked up a capsule and waved it in the air for a moment. Hotaru suppressed her laughter, while Trunks patted his dad on the shoulder.  
  
"It's alright dad." Trunks told him.  
  
From then on, the decorating between the five of them went rapidly. Or it seemed to. The party started at 6, and it was already 4 o'clock. Hotaru, Midoriko, Trunks, and Bulma all ran up to get showers, while Vegeta stealthily flew off in the opposite direction. He was on his way to the flower shop, which nobody knew that, but he was getting his wife a large bouquet of roses. He'd ordered it the day before. Boy was she going to be surprised.  
  
Trunks went up to his room to shower and dress for the occasion. Hotaru followed suit, and Midoriko was permitted to use the downstairs guest room for the day, so she didn't have the opportunity to follow Hotaru and Trunks upstairs. Walking up the stairs and laughing, Trunks and Hotaru were talking about Trunks's comical fall from the air while helping his father hang streamers. He actually had to fall, rather than use his flying power to save himself, although he did use it to cusion his fall ever so slightly, because using the hoverboards was just something he wasn't accustomed to. But Midoriko wasn't aloud to know about their ability, or he would be in severe trouble with his father, who was used to this kind of thing from working around people for so long.  
  
Bulma showed Midoriko to her room, and went back the hallway further to her suite that she called a bedroom. It was large, and grand. Beautiful, to state it simply. Midoriko merely glanced into it before Bulma shut and locked the door. Quickly, Midoriko showered and dressed, then ran to Bulma's room, where she begged her to do her hair. Bulma obliged, and began to fix Midoriko's shoulder length blond hair into an intricate design of curls and twists. Midoriko knew that her beauty as well as her powder would attract Trunks's attention.  
  
Up in Hotaru's room, Hotaru had also showered quickly, and pulled on her dress. She hadn't rewashed her hair, she'd used a shower cap. Hotaru left it the way it normally was, it was so much easier, and her hair didn't look all that great fixed up anyway. Trunks had just turned the wated off in his room, and stepped slowly out of the shower. He dried himself off, and his long purple hair, too. Then, he dressed in a simple, loose white shirt, and a pair of black dress pants. He pulled his hair back into the low pony tail, and left his bangs hang at the sides of his face. He then proceeded to put in an earring. Just to urk his mother and Midoriko.  
  
Hotaru left in her senshi earrings, and since the dress came up like a choker, she opted to leave her regular silver chain necklace on. The diamond inlaid charm glinted in the florescence of the light, before Hotaru shut it off. She seemed to glow softly like her namesake, and she felt satisfied. 'This is pretty similar to home... The parties, the training, the family meals... Maybe that's why I'm so at ease?' Hotaru thought. She stepped into the hallway at the same time as Trunks. Trunks looked at her in awe, and Hotaru returned the look.  
  
"You look stunning." Trunks said, softly. Hotaru felt a slight blush creep across her cheeks, and countered his comment.  
  
"And you look extremely handsome. Go find your escort before she kills me for looking at you." Hotaru said, and she disappeared down the stairs, leaving Trunks behind her.  
  
****  
  
"Put them right there. We're the last couple to enter, and therefore, it would be easier for her to notice being up higher... Oh I'm glad you were able to do that, it's magnificent. Set it on stage." Vegeta instructed in his usual gruff voice. He had Bulma's flowers delivered promptly, and he even got the pedestal inscribed. It read, 'To: Bulma From: Vegeta' and it was in gold script against the black of the pedestal. 'If Bulma doesn't like this, I may as well eat my finest pair of pants.' Vegeta thought to himself.  
  
****  
  
"Oh, Midoriko, you look wonderful! That hair style looks marvelous on you!" Bulma said. Midoriko, dressed in lavender, had her hair half hanging half up, with a twist in the back, and random pieces were curled all over her hair. It was really very pretty for such a rotten personality.  
  
"Thank you so much Bulma!" Midoriko feigned gratefulness and flung her arms around the woman. A tinge of guilt swept over her momentarily, but she brushed it off and left Bulma for the parlor. Trunks was standing there, talking to his grandfather, who was still in his white lab coat. He spun, and looked at Midoriko.  
  
"You look very nice, Midoriko." Trunks said smiling. Midoriko grinned back at him.  
  
"And you are so cute I could just eat you right up." Midoriko replied. Trunks's smile faded ever so slightly.  
  
'What kind of compliment is that?' he asked himself. 'Why am I escorting her again?' but suddenly, he sneezed, and his eyes got all hazy. Then Midoriko's powder finally kicked in, and Trunks walked over and took her arm. "Are you ready to go?" he asked her.  
  
Inside, Midoriko was smirking triumphantly, and outside she spoke. "Ready when you are, Trunks-koi." and when he didn't say anything about her calling him her koibito, Midoriko knew the powder worked.  
  
****  
  
In the study, Hotaru overheard every word spoken in the parlor. Including Midoriko's lovely, 'Trunks-koi'. Hotaru began meditating to rid herself of the unwanted emotion she was feeling at losing Trunks. She knew that they were only good friends. Those kisses had been a mistake. That dream had to be wrong. She didn't love him, she couldn't stand him.  
  
****  
  
The butler was announcing the last couple before he began the relatives of Capsule Corp.'s manager. From there, he would announce Bulma's parents, Trunks and Midoriko, then Bulma and Vegeta. Hotaru wouldn't be announced. Not only was she not from this dimension, but she didn't have an escort, and refused to be announced any way.  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Tsukasa!" he announced. (a/n: I had to make up Bulma's maiden name... I couldn't find it!) Everyone clapped for Bulma's parents.  
  
"Mr. Trunks Briefs and Ms. Midoriko Amamiya!" he announced. There were gasps from the crowd. Trunks had never escorted anyone before now. Trunks was calm as he led Midoriko through the crowd to the table. After all, he was technically under a spell. But when they got there, Hotaru was nowhere to be found, and it jogged his memory for a moment, and he looked around. Luckily, Midoriko didn't notice. Hotaru stared like a hawk from the corner of the room nearest to where they sat. It was far more her style not to mingle with a crowd she didn't know.  
  
"And last but not least, Mr. and Mrs. Bulma and Vegeta Briefs! But don't forget to look to the stage to see what's in store for this happy couple." Instead of watching Bulma enter, which angered her, they all averted their eyes to the stage. When Bulma finally looked to the stage, she forgot about yelling at the butler. Even from across the room, she could read it. A humungous bouquet of roses sat on a pedestal that read, 'To Bulma, from Vegeta.' Just as everyone was turning back to see her reaction, she kissed Vegeta. They walked down amongst roaring applause, and sat at their table. "Now you may begin the feast!" the butler announced, and waiters came out of the kitchen and took the orders of everyone who had come.  
  
"When did you find the time to do that?" Bulma asked, happily eating.  
  
"When you weren't looking." Vegeta replied, making her father laugh.  
  
After dinner Bulma got onstage, and settled the crowd. "Thank you all for coming, and I hope you enjoyed the food." Bulma stopped talking, accustomed to the shouts of agreement she got from the crowd. "Tonight, I have a friend here who's been out of the country for a while. I just discovered recently that she has an incredible singing voice, and she's agreed to sing for us tonight, but only one song. I chose 'You light up my life.'" Bulma said, and she stepped down from the stage as Hotaru stepped up.  
  
Then the music came on, the background music to the song she was to sing, and she was given 8 counts from there. Taking the microphone, Hotaru counted the rest of the beats, wondering why she agreed to do this for Bulma. She took a breath, and began.  
  
"So many nights, I'd sit by my window,  
  
Waiting for someone to sing me his song.  
  
So many dreams, I kept deep inside me,  
  
Alone in the dark, but now you've come along.  
  
And you light up my life,  
  
You give me hope, to carry on.  
  
You light up my days  
  
And fill my nights with song.  
  
Rollin' at sea, adrift on the waters  
  
Could it be finally, I'm turning for home  
  
Finally a chance to say, "Hey, I Love You"  
  
Never again to be all alone.  
  
And you light up my life,  
  
You give me hope, to carry on.  
  
You light up my days  
  
And fill my nights with song.  
  
You, You light up my life  
  
You give me hope to carry on  
  
You light up my days  
  
And fill my nights with song  
  
It can't be wrong, when it feels so right  
  
'Cause you, you light up my life. " Hotaru noticed as the music strains died down, that several people were agape, and quite a few were crying. When the last strain faded out, there was a roar of applaus, and Hotaru stepped down from the stage. She was immediately cornered by Bulma, who hugged her.  
  
"You were wonderful, Hotaru! Absolutely wonderful!" Hotaru smiled weekly, and left to her corner.  
  
"Let's have another round of applaus for Hotaru!" Bulma said into the microphone. When the applause settled, Bulma spoke again. "Now, we'll begin the first dance."  
  
People got up and led their couples onto the dance floor, including Trunks. Hotaru had a perfect view of him. The dancing went on for a couple of hours, and people congratulated Hotaru on her solo. Just towards the end, as Hotaru was making her way toward Trunks, Midoriko noticed her. She pulled Trunks in for a kiss, and spun her back to Hotaru. Big mistake, as Trunks's eyes were open. He saw Hotaru, and was pulled out of his trance. Too late.  
  
Hotaru ran as fast as she could to get out. Anywhere would be better than here. Trunks broke off the kiss to a stunned Midoriko, and pushed her away. A tear rolled down Midoriko's cheek as she watched him run after Hotaru.  
  
Outside, Hotaru flew to the roof. Tears flowing freely, she didn't bother to shield her ki. Or her heart for that matter. In seconds, a strong whirlwind formed next to her, and a teenage girl popped in next to her. Almost an exact copy of her mother with pink hair, Rini was the one person Hotaru wanted to see.  
  
"You summoned me through dimensions? No, impossible. Your heart lead me here. You're in pain, Hotaru!" the girl said. "Your mother and mine are both searching for you." Rini told her.  
  
"I assumed they would be. Rini, if I told you I thought I fell in love, what would your reaction be?" Hotaru asked her, her tear streaked face pleadingly looking up at her best friend.  
  
"You did? But wait, what do you mean you think?" Rini asked.  
  
****  
  
Outside, Trunks reached frantically for Hotaru's ki. Surprisingly, he found it. It was on the roof. Along with another strong ki. He flew up to the roof, but didn't fly into view just yet, he wanted to see if it was friend or foe before he killed the person near Hotaru.  
  
****  
  
"Well, I thought I fell in love with a guy here. I really thought I had fallen for him. And I thought he liked me too. But Rini, he was kissing another girl in front of me tonight. And he let her call him -koi. No objections. I don't know what to do, it was like he was under a spell. But I can't explain it..." Hotaru just let her head fall limply into her arms.  
  
"You may well have fallen for this guy, Hotaru. And there is a way to see if he's fallen for you." Rini replied.  
  
"You could just ask him." Trunks said, he was hurting. Everyone saw it. If possible, he was hurting more than Hotaru.  
  
"Well, that too, but-- hey, who the hell are you?" Rini asked.  
  
"Stay away from me you traitor." Hotaru said.  
  
"I take it this is the guy?" Rini asked sarcastically. She knew this was the guy, no questions asked. They were both hurting.  
  
"I can't. I do love you. That I know." Trunks said. He knew this wasn't helping.  
  
"Then why were you kissing Midoriko?" Hotaru spat.  
  
"She kissed me. And it's not what you think!" Trunks replied.  
  
"Hotaru, were Trunks's eyes hazy at all today?" Rini asked. Thinking back, Hotaru nodded.  
  
"Come with me, both of you." Rini said. They each took a hand she extended, and in a flash of light, they disappeared.  
  
They were in the past, re-watching the day slowly as it happened. In fast- forward while they were together, and when they were apart, slowly, but not too slowly, it was like the scene split in half and showed what each was doing. But Rini seemed to be controlling the speed, as well as the time. She played one scene out normally before continuing to fast forward. It was a scene where they were sleeping, and Midoriko was in the room. Trunks gasped, and Hotaru choked on her tears when she heard, "This is going to be much easier than I anticipated." They watched her blow some powdery substance at Trunks, and watched her fabled first knock before it was fast forwarding again. And then it slowed and zoomed in on Trunks's 'screen' and showed his eyes grow hazy and his odd behavior began there. Another flash of light brought them back to the present.  
  
"I love you." Trunks said. Midoriko stood below them, watching them at the top of the slant, they made her sick.  
  
"YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM HOTARU!" Midoriko shouted up at her.  
  
"YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME, MIDORIKO AMAMIYA!" Trunks shouted down at her, and sent a ki blast to her at her right. She jumped, startled, and ran inside crying. He then proceeded to gather Hotaru up in his arms, and cradle her to his chest.  
  
"I want to stay her for a while longer, Rini. Please, when I send you back, do not tell mother of where I am? She'll send the guards to retrieve me. But I want to stay longer." Hotaru begged.  
  
"I promise you, I won't." Rini replied softly. The whirlwind appeared, and Rini stepped back into it, and was whisked away to her rightful dimension.  
  
"I'm sorry about all of this." Hotaru said.  
  
"It's alright. I love you." Trunks replied.  
  
"I love you too." He kissed her, slowly and passionately. Neither before now had realized how much the other cared. Until now.  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Heh. I told you I would make it a longer chapter this time. ^_^ Well, I hope you liked it, please R&R! ~Krysta 


	9. Rini's Appearance Under the Stars

After they had sat on the roof, each enjoying the embrace of the other, Hotaru and Trunks glided softly down to the ground. Almost instantly, they were greeted by a distressed Bulma. She looked at them, and frantically dragged Trunks aside.  
  
"What could you have possibly done to Midoriko to make her so upset?!" Bulma asked, her voice hushed to a near silence, yet her statement seemed to speak volumes.  
  
"Mother, she must understand... I don't love her. I probably never will. And I do love somebody else. I can't drop my feelings to accomidate hers." Trunks said simply, not bothering to hush his voice as his mother had. He simply gestured to Hotaru, and they walked away, both of their beautiful faces creased with scowls that wouldn't be removed until Midoriko was gone.  
  
Bulma stood where her son and his training partner had left her, staring agape after them both as though she was shocked that Trunks really didn't like Midoriko. People were finishing up leaving the dinner party, and a few of them snickered slightly at the look on Bulma's face.  
  
"That was very nice of you Trunks, I enjoyed hearing that. I couldn't stand that blonde headed bimbo." a deep male voice said somewhere off to the left, as Trunks and Hotaru entered the mansion that was home to them.  
  
"Oh, thanks dad. I can't stand her either. At one point I may have felt sympathy for her, but not now. Not ever now. I love somebody else." Trunk's light voice was the same as it had been with his mother, betraying none of his emotions. But Vegeta, who knew how to read between the lines even when he was shocked, knew Trunks obviously meant he didn't want to talk about what had happened tonight. Wrong as he was, not a soul could tell him that and not get away severely injured.  
  
"I'm going to change." Hotaru said as they made their way toward the steps.  
  
"I am too. Are you up for training? For some odd reason, right now, I just need to vent some of my anger at Midoriko." Trunks replied.  
  
"Sure. I'll be out in a second." Hotaru said. Trunks looked at her, puzzled, and then she grinned slyly. "I'll race ya." she said, and she disappeared in a flurry of midnight sparkles.  
  
"Setsuna-sama?" Queen Seki called out. "Pluto?"  
  
"Yes, m'lady?" Setsuna, the senshi of Pluto replied, materializing in front of the distressed queen.  
  
"Have you seen Serenity-hime? I've been looking for her everywhere. She hasn't reported in for her update, and I'm terribly worried." Queen Seki asked, distressed over the absence of the princess of the moon.  
  
Just then, a girl who looked to be older than Hotaru by a few years materialized in front of them, in a flurry of wind. Her vivid pink hair settled down when the wind from her transportation did. It was Serenity- hime 'junior'. In other words, Rini.  
  
"Queen Seki?" Rini asked slowly. She was still unsure as to what she was going to say. She promised Hotaru that she wouldn't give away her location just yet. Then something in her brain clicked. When she had been in Hotaru's room earlier, her laptop hadn't been there. Most likely, she'd been updating her online journal. A plan quickly raced through her brain as she listened to Queen Seki's worries.  
  
"Oh my goddesses, I thought you'd gotten lost or hurt. Thank the gods you're alive. Do you have any news for me?" she asked. Her pleading face almost made Rini throw her plan out the window and tell her Aunt everything. Almost. But Hotaru's pleading eyes had won out, as usual.  
  
"Yes, I do, but it's not as good as you hope it will be, but it seems promising." Rini began. Queen Seki's eyes lit up considerably, and this encouraged Rini to continue. "When I was searching for Hotaru in the galaxy that was a ways to the east, I met my mother on her mission. I asked her if she'd seen Hotaru, but she shook her head no. She told me the last she'd seen of Hotaru's had been her online journal entry. She proceeded to tell me that her journal was updated rather recently, in fact, today." Rini lied, hoping that she was right. Then again, she was never wrong when it came to Hotaru, that's why they were best friends.  
  
Almost immediately, Queen Seki's laptop was on and finding its way to the site containing Hotaru's online journal. To her delight, there was an entry there from about 3:45 that morning. But to her dismay, there wasn't a single hit what so ever as to her whereabouts.  
  
"DOMO arigatou for your help Serenity-hime. I honestly appreciate it. At least I know that my daughter is safe, and seems to be happy where she is." Queen Seki smiled tearfully. For another moment, Rini's resolve wavered, but then firmly latched in place of Hotaru. She disappeared, and left Queen Seki alone with Setsuna once more.  
  
"I'm sure she'll turn up soon, my queen." Setsuna said lightly, returning to the gates of time to guard them and fulfill her duty.  
  
Well, I know it's been quite a while since I've updated, but unfortunately for me, my internet has been down for nearly one and a half months now. I hope you will enjoy the next few chapters of this story! Krysta 


	10. The Lake That Recovered the Bad Memories

Hotaru ran up the stairs effortlessly, smiling as she went. Trunks wasn't to far behind, but she knew from experience that he'd just let her win any ways. Running into her room, Hotaru changed out of her dress as quickly as she possibly could.  
  
Trunks ran into his room and flew out of his clothes and flew into his sparring gi. He smiled briefly as he ran out the door of his room, only to see Hotaru already half way down the stairs, and he swore silently under his breath. Hotaru smirked, he knew she had, although he hadn't seen it for himself. Smiling, he kept running after her, although to no avail. She seemed to be almost dancing. Whirling and twirling gracefully through the air toward the door. She beat him outside, and then called out, "Ollie Ollie Oxen-free!" and he looked at her oddly.  
  
"Ollie ollie oxen-free?" he asked, curiously. Hotaru laughed lightly, her voice melodic and entrancing, explaining to him what she had learned from children on earth.  
  
"It's my way of saying, 'I win, I beat you, I'm on safe territory.'" Hotaru explained, amusement still evident in her voice. She was happy, and for the moment, that was all that mattered.  
  
"Interesting. I want to show you place I believe you'll like. It's like a place out of your dreams." Trunks said.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hotaru asked, puzzled for the moment.  
  
"You know, a place you could only dream of." Trunks explained. His voice was deep and layered with chords of baritone. It was beautiful sounding in Hotaru's opinion.  
  
"Oh, alright then." Hotaru said, smiling. She even held Trunks's hand as they made their way through the forest.  
  
"This is it, coming up here." Trunks said, gesturing to the clearing up ahead of them.  
  
"Oh my gosh!" Hotaru said, her free hand shooting up and covering her mouth.  
  
"What's wrong?" Trunks asked her, worried.  
  
"Well, it's just that, I have seen this place before. In my dreams!" Hotaru said, gasping.  
  
"My mother said the same thing when my father first took her here." Trunks said, seriously.  
  
"Really?" Hotaru asked, her eyes widening considerably.  
  
"Really." Trunks said, a tone of finality in his voice. Hotaru smiled slightly at the thought of what was happening. She could live with that.  
  
"Do you want to spar over the water then? Or is it too beautiful for even a saiyan prince to disturb?" Hotaru questioned, curiously.  
  
"It is indeed to beautiful to disturb, however, your beauty surpasses it, and makes me wonder how I will be able to spar with you." Trunks said, his voice considerably softer than it was when he was talking about the lake.  
  
"You'll just have to trust that I can win." Hotaru said, smiling, a mischievious grin in her eyes as well as pasted firmly on her face.  
  
"You can't win unless I let you." Trunks said haughtily.  
  
"Of course I can." Hotaru said, rather seriously and honestly.  
  
"Then we'll just have to find out, won't we." he said, and they made their way quickly back to the clearing.  
  
"On the count of three...." Hotaru said, but Trunks had cheated and charged at her. Bad idea. She laughed to herself, muttering, "Poor guy, he doesn't know how much sparring I've done in my immortal life time, does he?" and she easily dodged his swift attack. She merely dodged him for five full minutes, wearing him down. She then decided to attack him as a counter.  
  
Charging at her once more, Trunks knew she would dodge, but his plan was unfolding in his head. Unfortunately, after she dodged, Hotaru performed a counter attack, and knocked him to the ground rather easily. She didn't hurt him at all. She had no desire to. But right now, there had to possibly somebody she could spar with to let out her pent up emotions. Somebody she could hurt and not regret it. Maybe Vegeta would spar with her if she asked.  
  
"Trunks? I'm sorry." Hotaru said, helping him up off of the ground.  
  
"It's alright, I deserved that." Trunks said, smiling sheepishly.  
  
"I need to spar somebody I can actually hurt and not wanna hurt myself. I don't wanna beat on you completely and totally...." Hotaru said.  
  
"Well, you could always fight the simulations.... Would you like to?" Trunks asked. He wasn't worried quite yet, but he was still somewhat concerned.  
  
"That sounds like fun. Can we do that now?" Hotaru asked. Trunks nodded obligingly. He took her hand and led her back to the mansion where everyone was now gone aside from his mother, father, and grandparents.  
  
"Dad? Is the simulation machine up for a go? Hotaru wants to spar." Trunks asked his father.  
  
"Yes, it is, but why don't you and Hotaru just spar?" he asked, curiously.  
  
"Well, she says that I don't pose enough of a challenge." Trunks said, blushing.  
  
"Ah, I see. And you deserve this, as well, because you aren't exactly training your hardest lately." Vegeta replied, rather cockily.  
  
"I could beat you, too. You aren't seeming to be posing much of a challenge slandering your own son." Hotaru spoke up, defending Trunks. Vegeta quickly scowled.  
  
"Are you implying that I'm not worth the time, onna?" Vegeta asked.  
  
"Maybe I am." Hotaru said. She looked at Trunks, who was silently pleading with her eyes not to spar his father while he was angry.  
  
"We'll just see who's not worth the time. Come to the anti- gravitation chamber." Vegeta said, smirking.  
  
"Fine, I'll whomp on you, Vegeta-sensei." Hotaru said, full of confidence. She would be able to let out her emotions, now that she riled Vegeta-sensei up, he wouldn't be as easily injured.  
  
"Like hell you will, onna." Vegeta scowled. His confidence was not as high as it had been merely moments before. Trunks, behind his father's back, was silently shooting Hotaru looks of pleading and displeasure at the way she was behaving.  
  
Trunks, obviously being ignored, followed dejectedly to the anti- gravity chamber, to watch the sparring match through the windows.  
  
Hey everyone. My internet still doesn't work as I write this chapter either. It's coming up on May first, so I'll be a bit busy with soccer, but otherwise, I'm going to get this stuff posted ASAP as well as the upcoming chapter(s) on Hotaru's sparring match with Vegeta, and the next chapters on what's to come along the lines of the enemy I'm going to invent. He's my own villain. Because I feel like it. See you all next time, don't forget to leave me reviews! Krysta-chan 


	11. Sparring Vegeta and Reality Crashes

Vegeta turned the gravity on to twenty times that of earth, making it relatively harder to move than usual. But Hotaru, who had been happy one moment, had instantly switched to her deadly mode. She had remembered something, a flash back at a lake similar to the one in this dimension. It angered her beyond belief. It was what made her realize that back before last year, her mother had not really given a damn what happened to Hotaru. It had been cruel and unusual.  
  
Hotaru's older sister, Sakuya, had been trained to be the royal guard. Sakuya was mortal, unlike Hotaru, and they knew this by the time Hotaru was born, killed, and reborn from the ashes. Sakuya, henceforth, had to train harder than Hotaru, in order to be better than her opponent. Otherwise, she'd never survive. Sakuya had been taken for a training session in which she was to guard the treasure of the palace lake.  
  
While Sakuya was guarding the lake, there was a staged attack on the lake. She was forced to fight them all off, one by one, her life dwindling. She escaped- just barely- with her life, and was passed on ot the next level of training as soon as she was better. Hotaru hadn't known about it and hadn't found out until the she herself went through the same training session. And then she'd escaped unscathed, of course, her true powers had been revealed. And the unfortunate thing was, Hotaru, who had died about four times by now, knew the sensation of death well, and that was nearly her fifth brush with it. After she got back to the palace, Sakuya's cold heart lay open. Sakuya was sitting in her room, and Hotaru's powers had peaked for the moment. Hotaru could see everything from her past.  
  
Searching her sister's heart, she saw the plan her mother had come up with to accent her training. Sakuya had had this training last year as well. But her heart was too cold to warn her own sister of what her mother was doing. And Hotaru howled in anger and pain.  
  
"How could you all?!" Hotaru had screeched.  
  
"You don't understand, Hotaru-" Sakuya had began, but Hotaru cut her off.  
  
"No, you don't understand. Just because your cold hearted doesn't mean I'm expendable!" Hotaru yelled at the top of her lungs.  
  
"I wasn't allowed to tell you anything anyways. Mother threatened my life. And you are expendable." Sakuya said, rather calmly. Her cold heart hadn't warmed in eleven years. Sakuya was only seventeen, yet her heart was as cold as ice. All of the suitors had been turned down, due to the fact that Sakuya's cold heart didn't permit her to be in love. The only thing Sakuya knew how to do anymore was serve.  
  
"I'm WHAT?!" Hotaru shouted. She honestly couldn't believe that her very own sister had just told her that she was expendable. Hotaru ran into her mother's quarters, looking fervently for her.  
  
"Mother!!" Hotaru shouted.  
  
"What Hotaru?" her mother asked, unconcerned.  
  
"Sakuya just told me I was EXPENDABLE!" Hotaru exclaimed, hoping her mother would tell her otherwise.  
  
"She's right. You are expendable. If you die, you are only reborn from the ashes. So it doesn't hurt to see you killed as it would to see Sakuya killed. She doesn't come back, Hotaru." Queen Seki replied to her distressed daughter.  
  
"Y-you're dispicable!" Hotaru had shouted. She couldn't handle this. She was nearly sixteen, and her mother had just told her that she could care less whether she lives or dies because she comes back. She spun on her heel, and ran out of the room, tears flowing freely. She threw herself back into training. She became bored with it, already forgotten the pain in her heart, she couldn't feel anything when she fought. It was too hard to feel when she fought. Hotaru had already locked the memory away in the back of her brain and thrown it into storage. That was when she felt like sleeping. And she left to her own quarters. She was bored to no extent already, and she didn't feel or think enough to care about her mother or sister. She was the same as they were, yet she was different. She had a heart of gold, except when she was battling.  
  
Hotaru, sitting in her room, then cried out for a challenge. Something she could work at. A way to get away from the world she knew, her mother, her sister, the boredom of training that didn't work, and most of all, the negative energy that constantly hung around the palace. Nobody else seemed to sense it, probably because they weren't paying enough attention. But the negative energy came from the cold hearts of the saturnians that resided in the palace. And she didn't want to add to that negative energy. She was Hotaru, and she may be the senshi of death, but she was also the senshi of rebirth. And she needed a healthy setting, and a new challenge.  
  
'I remember now. Now why I hate my mother and sister. How could I have simply forgotten that day?' Hotaru thought, rather venemously. This is what landed her here. Here to train, which she hadn't done too much of in the month that she'd been here. It was odd enough that she'd fallen in love, it was more so like she belonged here than on Saturn with all of the other senshi, but she had definitely grown up there, and made friends with the senshi of Usagi (Serenity-hime).  
  
"Are you ready, onna?" Vegeta called, tauntingly.  
  
"Hai." Hotaru said. Her eyes flashed a deadly shade of black as she powered up half way. For a moment, a flicker of unease crossed Vegeta's eyes. Hotaru smirked.  
  
"Go." he said simply, and he charged at her. Dodging easily, Hotaru decided to have some fun. She concentrated her energy onto her palm and shaped it with her mind. Vegeta hadn't taught her this, but he had taught her to form the energy. She bent it into the shape of a boomerang. She threw it at Vegeta, who was now level with her, and he dodged it easily. Hotaru hid her smirk, and moved directly into his path, holding her hand in the air, as though she was going to call some kind of energy that Vegeta had never seen before. He hesitated just to make sure, and he got hit in the back with Hotaru's boomerang energy.  
  
Hotaru, realizing that she had nearly fatally injured her sensei, rushed over, and reabsorbed the energy. She was going to need it. Frowning, she noticed that the energy had barely missed his heart. She quickly began to heal him as Trunks turned off the gravity. Hotaru felt lighter, but she realized that the gravity had slowed Vegeta significantly. He must have been tired from before, unlike herself. She hadn't expended much energy until half an hour ago. She healed him in about fifteen minutes, and he got up.  
  
"Kami shimatte, onna!" Vegeta shouted.  
  
"Gomen Vegeta-sensei." Hotaru stated simply, and she got up, and left. She felt tears flowing, and she knew what was wrong. It was her inner demons. She always had an insatiable lust to kill whenever she was near a youkai. But Vegeta was no youkai, but she still felt the need to kill. When she died for the third time, she had taken her opponent with her, and a part of the evil in her opponent's soul had transferred to her very own soul. Ever since then, she got an insatiable lust to kill every once in a while. Frowning deeply with tears still streaming down her face, Hotaru ran as fast as she could up to the room she'd been staying in, and took for the shower. She turned the cold on, she didn't bother with the hot. She felt a shock go through her when the water hit her. It was cold.  
  
"What happened to the onna?" Vegeta growled, "She nearly killed me!"  
  
"I have no idea, but I know she felt really horrible. But part of me is definitely blaming you for this. If you hadn't said she couldn't beat you, she might not have tried so hard." Trunks told his father. Vegeta scowled and replied nastily, "If you don't get out of my sight right now...." he started, and Trunks took his cue to run off after Hotaru. Her ki was smothered by something brilliantly iceburg blue in his mind. It must have been something pretty cold. He entered her room, and Hotaru's negative ki hit him like a punch with a lot of power behind it .  
  
"Hotaru?" he called out. There was no reply, but he heard the soft pitter patter of what he thought to be water. He walked over to the bathroom door, and the ki got stronger. It was horribly negative.  
  
'Is that Trunks outside the bathroom door? I can't let him see me like this... I'm a wreck. My ki is so negative right now I'm surprised he could get into my room without nearly choking to death. I should neutralize it....But I'm not in the bloody mood.....' Hotaru's thoughts fluttered across her brain, making a slightly rational thought train, but not quite as rational as she normally would have liked. Hotaru silently hoped that her negative ki forced Trunks out of the room.  
  
"Hotaru?" Trunks called out againg, but there was still no answer. And her negative ki was really starting to get to him. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, as though there were a poisonous haze in the air. He decided to take refuge on her balcony until she would come out. The iceberg blue that blurred her ki grew stronger, and the soft pitter patter became more of loud, rapid thudding noises. Trunks just sat on her balcony, surprised that he was truly gasping for air.  
  
As Hotaru let her thoughts run rampant, and her lust decreased considerably, she turned the water up once more. She felt herself calming down, and turned some of the hot water on. It felt good, and calming. So she turned it farther, making the water warmer, until it was about room temperature.  
  
Trunks, still breathing a little heavily from ten minutes ago, noticed that the iceberg blue color was now a purple color. That relieved Trunks a little bit, but he was still worried that Hotaru wasn't going to be quite alright.  
  
Hotaru felt completely calm now, and she decided to go out and neutralize her room before her serene air disappeared and she couldn't do it. She exited the shower and she put a towel around her hair and body. Thankfully she'd remembered to take her clothes off, rather than just hopping in with her clothes on like she had the last time this situation occured. She stepped out into her room, and the negative energy parted like it was never there, and disappeared altogether. She felt considerably better, but the was sitll edging doubt in her mind.  
  
"Setsuna? I know why Hotaru left. We need to talk." Queen Seki whispered.  
  
Sorry guys.... ;; I have to work on getting the net back up. SYL! 


End file.
